SWA demands $10K payment from scrap recycler

A scrap metal recycler has until July 15 to pay the Solid Waste Authority about $10,000 he owes or the agency has threatened to take legal action and look for another firm with which to do business.

Highway Superintendent Stanley Smotherman, who manages waste disposal for the authority, told the board that South East Recovery Group was still some $10,000 behind in payments for scrap metal recycling.

The Authority voted last month to send a certified letter to the company to ask payment to be made within 30 days. The company was behind on payments for two and a half months at that time.

Smotherman said he had visited the firm on several occasions, has made a number of calls, and has been promised the full amount, but "nothing yet," Smotherman said.

South East Recovery Group was awarded the contract last December at 65 percent of the average of the first and third Friday's price of metal on the New York Stock Exchange, after Middle Tennessee Metal Recovery fell behind on payments to the county last year due to falling metal prices caused by the economic downturn.

The Authority also discussed looking at the bids offered last year from other vendors, with members debating the cost, logistics, mileage and what might be the best value for the county.

The Authority voted to have Smotherman run the numbers to see what might be the best deal and also to take action against South East Recovery Group if no payment is made by July 15.

In other business, the Authority approved paying $111,084 for a 2010 Freightliner roll-off truck. Five bids were opened and the bid was awarded to Neely Coble Co. of Nashville.

Smotherman said he was "tickled to death" to finally be receiving the truck, an item he has been requesting for nearly two years.